Le Matin, always rare and uncategorised, following the reissue of his early synthwavepop tunes on « poussière d'époque » and a track on the good Lena Wilikens' Dekmantel Selectors 005 comp, this new EP on Lost Dogs Ent. let you hear some of his last works. Expect an ultra-cold-minimal-electro riddim, a less-mental-nearly-good-for-the-dancefloor tune with depitched haunted r&b vocals, an analog and bassy arpeggio ride ... On the flip side, Oh My God ! This is the peak-time-for-weirdo-nearly-techno tune, a blast, only for craziest DJs that like broken-frustrated-uncomfortable dandefloors and to finish this well balanced 5 trackers : the « are you depressed that much It's the 10th time you're listening to this OST of a dying world, this won't get any better but at least this is good music ! » tune. Le Matin is a good kept secret that prefer to take care of his kids than to travel the world of nightclubbing with drunk teens (ok that's how it is in France, that looks better in some other countries), but sometime you can hear his music on decks of some wise people and DJs like Call Super, Lena Wilikens, House of Traps, Charles Drakeford, Jon K, Bergsonist, Body Motion...
Suche:life s track
- A1: Emad Youssef - Al Bareedo Ana (The One I Love)
- A2: Abdel El Aziz Al Mubarak - Ma Kunta Aarif Yarait (I Wish I Had Known)
- B1: Kamal Tarbas - Min Ozzalna Seebak Seeb (Forget Those That Divide Us)
- B2: Madjzoub Ounsa - Arraid Arraid Ya Ahal (Love, Love Family)
- B3: Khojali Osman - Malo Law Safeetna Inta (What If You Resolve What's Between Us)
- C1: Zaidan Ibrahim - Ma Hammak Azabna (You Don't Care About My Suffering) (Live)
- C2: Saied Khalifa - Igd Allooli (The Pearl Necklace)
- C3: Taj Makki - Ma Aarfeen Nagool Shino! (We Don't Know What To Say!)
- D1: Hanan Bulu Bulu - Alamy Wa Shagiya (My Pain And Suffering) (Live)
- D2: Abdelmoniem Ekhaldi - Droob A Shoag (Paths To Love)
- D3: Samira Dunia - Galbi La Tahwa Tani (My Heart, Don't Fall In Love Again)
- E1: Mohammed Wardi - Al Sourah (The Photo)
- E2: Abdullah Abdelkader - Al Zaman Zamanak (It's Your Time)
- F1: Mustafa Modawi & Ibrahim El Hassan - Al Wilaid Al Daif (The Youth Who Came As A Guest)
- F2: Ibrahim El Kashif - Elhabeeb Wain (Where Is My Sweetheart)
- F3: Mohammed Wardi - Al Mursal (The Messenger)
In Sudan, the political and cultural are inseparable. In 1989, a coup brought a hardline religious government to power. Music was violently condemned. Many musicians and artists were persecuted, tortured, forced to flee into exile — and even murdered, ending one of the most beloved music eras in all of Africa and largely denying Sudan's gifted instrumentalists, singers, and poets, from strutting their creative heritage on the global stage.
What came before in a special era that protected and promoted the arts was one of the richest music scenes anywhere in the world. Although Sudanese styles are endlessly diverse, this compilation celebrates the golden sound of the capital, Khartoum. Each chapter of the cosmopolitan city's tumultuous musical story is covered through 16 tracks: from the hypnotic violin and accordion-driven orchestral music of the 1970s that captured the ears and hearts of Africa and the Arabic-speaking world, to the synthesizer and drum machine music of the 1980s, and the music produced in exile in the 1990s. The deep kicks of tum tum and Nubian rhythms keep the sound infectious.
Sudan of old had music everywhere: roving sound systems and ubiquitous bands and orchestras kept Khartoum's sharply dressed youth on their feet. Live music was integral to cultural life, producing a catalog of concert recordings. In small arenas and large outdoor venues, musical royalty of the day built Khartoum's reputation as ground zero for innovation and technique that inspired a continent.
Musicians in Ethiopia and Somalia frequently point to Sudan's biggest golden era stars as idols. Mention Mohammed Wardi — a legendary Sudanese singer and activist akin to Fela Kuti in stature and impact in his music and politics — and they often look to the heavens. A popular story is of one man from Mali who walked for three months across the Sahel to Sudan because the father of the woman he wanted to marry would only allow it if he got him a signed cassette from Wardi himself. Saied Khalifa is said to be the one of the few singers to make Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie smile.
Such is the stature of Sudanese singers and the reputation of Sudanese music, particularly in the "Sudanic Belt," a cultural zone that stretches from Djibouti all the way west to Mauritania, covering much of the Sahara and the Sahel, lands where Sudanese artists are household names and Sudanese poems are regularly used as lyrics until today to produce the latest hits. Sudanese cassettes often sold more in Cameroon and Nigeria than at home.
But years of anti-music sentiment have made recordings in Sudan difficult to source. Ostinato's team traveled to Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Egypt in search of the timeless cultural artifacts that hold the story of one of Africa's most mesmerizing cultures. That these cassette tape and vinyl recordings were mainly found in Sudan's neighbors is a testament to Sudanese music's widespread appeal.
With our Sudanese partner and co-compiler Tamador Sheikh Eldin Gibreel, a once famous poet and actress in '70s Khartoum, Ostinato's fifth album, following our Grammy-nominated "Sweet As Broken Dates," revives the enchanting harmonies, haunting melodies, and relentless rhythms of Sudan's brightest years, fully restored, remastered and packaged luxuriously in a triple LP gatefold and double CD bookcase to match the regal repute of Sudanese music.
A 20,000-word liner note booklet gives voice to the singers silenced by an oppressive regime.
Take a sail down the Blue and White Nile as they pass through Khartoum, carrying with them an ancient history and a never-ending stream of poems and songs. It takes two Niles to sing a melody.
In the summer of 2017 Australia's premiere swamp/grunge/punk/noise band The Scientists unexpectedly sprang back to life and started playing shows and making new music again. Kim Salmon is back with his Scientists - Boris Sujdovic, Tony Thewlis, and Leanne Cowie (the mid-80s line-up) -- and are delivering their first recording in 30 years. For this occasion Scientists have recorded Braindead, a reworking of song from their 1987 Human Jukebox album, and a brand new track called Survivalskills. If you love the band's original fuzz-filled swamprock you will not be disappointed. The band will be touring the US for the first time ever and plan to release a follow up to this single on In The Red later this year.
My Favorite Robot's next release is a very special remix by DJ Tennis. It initially comes as a 10' white vinyl and will then be available digitally in autumn.
MFR's 'Barricade' was first released on DJ Tennis's Life And Death label back in 2012. It was a huge house track that resonates to this day, so it makes sense the taste- making Italian steps up to remix it. He is someone with a cultured take on brooding house and techno, as evidenced by the music he A&Rs for his label as well as things like his own standout DJ-kicks mix from last year.
His new remix is a masterfully melancholic one that starts with a delicate ambient synth line hanging in mid air. Breathy vocals eventually arrive to send shivers down the spine and finally, deep, rolling, mid tempo kicks bring a groove that carries you away into a reverie. It's made all the more mournful and poignant thanks to some broad synth chords and swirling pads later on and is sure to provide a real centre point of any seriously emotional set.
This is a stunning and absorbing single and another high point for My Favorite Robot Records.
Rhythm Is Life And Life Is Rhythm. Not Only Is It Our Mantra Here At Neighbour Recordings, It's Also Inspired The Title Of Our Debut Release From Brand-new Production Partnership And Label Owners Base Pilot (aka Quantec And Birke Tm). Featuring Four Original Tracks, The Life Is Rhythm Ep Is A Full Thirty Minutes Of Dope, Low-slung House That Perfectly Unites The Duo's Many Years Of Shared Passion For Deep Electronic Music. Identify Is The Ideal Introduction, Swirling Synths And Deceptively Hypnotic, It's A Proper Crafty Cut, Whilst Ghosts Leans Towards A More Emotive And Subtle Groove. Title Track Life Is Rhythm Is A Warm And Inviting Ten-minute Epic Of Chunky Beats, Quirky Distortion And Vocoded Vocal Snatches, Whereas Closing Number On The Early Is Seriously Heads-down And Deep. Repeat After Us, Rhythm Is Life And Life Is Rhythm.
Dark Entries reissue the 2nd full length from Carolyn Fok / CYRNAI, an Asian-American female solo artist from the Bay Area. Carolyn's adventures in sound began with recording stories on a tape recorder at age 9 in 1976. A short time later, exploring the scattering of musical instruments and effects units her father left lying around the family home. She became especially fascinated by his TEAC reel-to-reel recorder that set off a lifelong fascination with sound design. By the age of 16 Carolyn had become inspired by industrial electronic act Cabaret Voltaire, as well as anarcho-punks Crass. Creating the stage name CYRNAI, a rearranging alphabet of Carolyn Fok, she played in several Bay Area bands including Treason, A State Of Mind, Trial and Rhythm & Noise between 1983 and 1991.
In 1986 Carolyn moved into her family's building in downtown San Francisco providing a space to develop her own art and music for the next two decades. She was the only tenant of the five story building. The top floor had 36 abandoned rooms with building materials and holes between floors, staircases that created natural reverb. It was during this isolated time that Carolyn would start working on her second release, 'Parts of The Insomnic Wheel,' 60-minutes of ten untitled pieces that ran into each other. This was also the first release on cassette due time constraints of the LP. She spent many nights at the 24-hour diner across the street chatting metaphysics, parallel universes, the 5th dimension and astro-projections. Carolyn would sleep next to paper/pencil and report dream states, experimenting with mental techniques, investigating how far her mind could go. It was a journey to unravel the 'dark night of the soul'. Utilizing her industrial surroundings, Carolyn would bang on sheet metal and record percussion on found materials. Originally released by Ladd-Frith in 1986, this reissue adds 4 unreleased bonus tracks recorded during the same period. Each copy includes a 16-page zine with lyrics, photos and notes by Carolyn. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios.
Dark Entries reissue the 3rd full length from Carolyn Fok / CYRNAI, an Asian-American female solo artist from the Bay Area. Carolyn's adventures in sound began with recording stories on a tape recorder at age 9 in 1976. A short time later, exploring the scattering of musical instruments and effects units her father left lying around the family home. She became especially fascinated by his TEAC reel-to-reel recorder that set off a lifelong fascination with sound design. By the age of 16 Carolyn had become inspired by industrial electronic act Cabaret Voltaire, as well as anarcho-punks Crass. Creating the stage name CYRNAI, a rearranging alphabet of Carolyn Fok, she played in several Bay Area bands including Treason, A State Of Mind, Trial and Rhythm & Noise between 1983 and 1991.
In 1987, towards the end of art school, Carolyn won another award from the New York Society of Illustrators. During the trip to New York to accept the award, she met electronic/dulcimer musician, Dan Joseph. After writing some letters they decided to make a split cassette titled 'Hypno-Seizure'. CYRNAI contributed 30 minutes of music to Side A of the cassette, 10 untitled pieces that ran into each other. She had just bought a round-the-world ticket going from China to Europe via Eurails, to Egypt, where she liked to wander. She picked up instruments from several countries and recorded the sounds of her new surroundings. Technology was changing into early sampling and she used a Commodore 64 with large floppy disks to record loops. Originally self-released in 1988, this reissue adds 3 unreleased bonus tracks recorded during the same period. Each copy includes a double sided insert with lyrics, photos and notes by Carolyn. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios.
- 1: Landing
- 2: Beneath The Ice
- 3: Endless Tide
- 4: Station Life
New 4-track Ep From Austin, Texas Analogue Hardware Enthusiast Bill Converse. Immersed In The Early Days Of The 90s Midwest Rave Scene, Bill Began Djing At A Young Age In Lansing, Michigan. Luminaries Such As Claude Young, Traxx, And Derrick May Were Key Early Influences. Techno, Noise, Ambient And Tape Processing Are All Part Of His Uncanny Sound Palette. His Debut Album 'meditations/industry' Was Released On Cassette In 2013 And Edited For A Vinyl Release On Dark Entries In 2016 Followed By Two 12' Singles 'warehouse Invocation' And '7 Of 9' The Same Year. In 2017 Converse Released His Second Album 'the Shape Of Things To Come' Followed By The Double Ep 'salt Of Mars'.
'hulled' Is A 25 Minute Journey Spread Across 4 Tracks Of Glacial Abandon. All Tracks Were Recorded Directly To Tape With No Overdubs, Made At Converse's Home Studio. Bill Says These Tracks Represent 'ocean Waves In Stormy Conditions, Dark Grey Blue Water, Or More Generally Speaking Something Ominous And Beautiful.' The Songs On This Album Reveal A Sublime Influence From Detroit Techno, Idm, And Acid. Built Around Vintage Synthesizer Lines And Gritty Drum Machine Percussion, The Tracks Ebb And Flow Like The Effect Of Sun Shimmering On Water, Woozy, Gauzy And Ephemeral. All Songs Were Mastered For Vinyl By George Horn At Fantasy Studios In Berkeley.
Each Ep Is Housed In A Die-cute Jacket Designed By Eloise Leigh With Peachy Pink Patterns Landing On An Alien Water Planet And Seeing Mysterious Playing Forms Under The Turquoise Water. Each Copy Includes A Postcard Featuring Photo Of Bill With Notes.
Cat.no.: De 222
Format: Ep
Tracklisting
Universalist is the first album by ACT! Baroque, kaleidoscope electronics; material sound for a disembodied world. The energy is optimistic and posi - even naive - a statement of unity in the age of psychic dislocation.
10 Tracks of phosphorus midi and brittle digi textures feel indebted in spirit to the masters of psychic jazz as much as the physical euphoria of the club. Above all, this album belongs to the catalogue of Halocline Trance, yet subtle references connect it to a larger lineage of free sound. The empty, divine heaviness of songs like Ecstatica / On Patrol invokes Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony, while the computerized spontaneity of Lava Valley feels somehow connected to Yasuaki Shimizu's Music for Commercials. Non-musical sounds and evocative melodies sit side-by-side - new psychedelia for love and life in the digital jetstream.
ACT! is a project from Toronto-based musician David Psutka. Building on a diverse body of releases as Egyptrixx, Ceramic TL, Anamai and various other collaborations, ACT! denotes a new chapter of creative output from Psutka and the Halocline Trance label. Universalist follows a prolific string of releases in 2017 with Anamai - What Mountain; Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun - Perfect Lung; and Egyptrixx - Pure, Beyond Reproach, and synthesizes recurring themes of materiality and the unifying potential of sound.
The young virtuoso producer Prins Emanuel follows up his acclaimed debut album on Music For Dreams with something quite different than what we're used to hearing from him. While Arbete & Fritid was an epic odyssey into the furthest corners of disco with an array of studio wizardry and complex rhythms, Diagonal Musik is a sparse and delicate exploration of the acoustic guitar. Steering away from his comfort zone, the Prins follows his intuition for experimentation and lands somewhere in a field of genre-defiant folk-jazz meditations; a development that fits like hand in glove for the eccentric nature of Music For Dreams. The album reads like a soundtrack to the country house Emanuel shares with his family and friends, a place on the map called Oran. From atop a hillside overlooking a lake, Oran is lodged deep in the heart of the Skåne landscape, the southern part of Sweden that once belonged to Denmark. This place encompasses the whole of the album, as the track titles all pinpoint crucial locations on the courtyard and its surroundings. 'Orön' which opens the album is named after the small half-island that sits in the centre of the lake. There's the hand-built sauna ("Bastun") at the edge of the yard, and behind that in a slope the old root cellar ("Jordkällaren"). While the nature here is anything but balearic, the overwhelming calm of the country life seems to inspire the same laid-back attitude and passion for all things organic (and not just musically, as this is where Emanuel also makes cider from local apples according to the vin naturel school). Upon listening to Diagonal Musik one might be keen to draw references to works in similar style, such as the output of late 80's new age label Windham Hill or the dreamy lullabies of long-time friend and Music For Dreams affiliate 55 Cancri e. This is all circumstantial however, surprising as it may seem.
- A1: Dreaming Of Me
- B1: Ice Machine
- C1: New Life (Remix)
- D1: Shout (Rio Mix)
- E1: Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)
- F1: Ant Second Now (Altered)
- G1: Depeche Mode - "Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead
- H1: Fad Gadget - "King Of The Flies" (Flexi Disc)
Depeche Mode - Speak & Spell 12" Single Box
Depeche Mode realized the format's potential and embraced the power of 12" vinyl and the avenues of innovation it opened up. The 12" single allowed the band to explore new sonic possibilities while the physical beauty of the packaging gave Depeche Mode room to develop a sophisticated and commanding visual aesthetic. Depeche Mode used their singles discography as a means of offering left field remixes and other delights for their fans.
Each box set in the series will contain the singles from each Depeche Mode album on audiophile-quality 12' vinyl, with audio remastered from the original tapes and cut at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The artwork for the exterior of each of the new box sets draws on street art iconography inspired by the original releases, while the vinyl sleeves themselves feature the original vinyl single artwork.
Speak & Spell | The 12' Singles contains a facsimile reproduction of the rare Flexi Disc 'Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead' b/w 'King of the Flies' (the Fad Gadget track as on the original release); Dreaming Of Me 12': 'Dreaming of Me' b/w 'Ice Machine'; New Life 12': 'New Life (Remix)' b/w 'Shout! (Rio Mix)'; Just Can't Get Enough 12': 'Just Can't Get Enough (Schizo Mix)' b/w 'Any Second Now (Altered)'; original single poster reproduction; download card.
The tune 'Strength' was written for my partner Bozanne Evans. This EP is dedicated to her.
Side note: The tracks 'I' and 'Strength' were originally going to be released as UNITY006 on the label 'Unity Through Sound' before they folded after their fifth release.
I didn't want the release to go to waste so decided to put them out on my label taking advantage of the 12' format by including a personal favorite of mine 'Life' and Ill_Ks monstrous remix of 'I'.
This is my most personal release to date and I hope you enjoy it.
Chad Dubz
Crazy 12 Track Library Music Style Album On This Ace Italian Label. All Based Around Bumping Live Rhythms Triggering An Obscure Japanese Drum Synth Module..recorded In 2017.
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It Was November 2017 When I Received A Call From An Old Friend, "hi Fabrizio, I Found A Rare Japanese Drum Machine, You Should Come And See It Before I Put This On Ebay." I Went To Check It Out And Immediately Realized It Had More Potential Than Just Drum Sounds Generation, It Was Able To Produce Quirky And Creepy Sounds If Triggered By Any Sound Source. So I Bought It And Brought In The Studio, Where Me And Alex Were Laying Down New Beats And Ideas. It Took Just Three Days Of Jams To Get The Skeleton Of This Record Done: I Programmed The Module To Receive Alex's Drum Hits And The Device Started Creating Synth Lines, Almost As It Was Speaking Its Own Language.i've Found A Soul In This Machine, And I Wanted To Bring It To Life In These Tracks, A Mix Of Arranged Compositions And Improvised Jams. No Root Keys, No Grids, No Clicks, Everything Came Out In An Instinctive And Natural Way
As Far As We Know It's The First Time This Synthesizer/drum Machine Is Been Used In This "improper" And New Way.
5 catchy tracks by eighties bristol outfit Umo Vogue Umo Vogue formed in Bristol by Stig Manley, Russ Crook and Neil Deamer who were in Bath based ska rock outfit 'The AT's', along with Bristol based singer Debbie Marlow. Neil's Brother Clive joined the band bringing a fantastic new dynamic to the band on drums, percussion and heavy artillery. The band name is a deliberate misspelling of the ultra-chic Italian fashion magazine 'L'Uomo Vogue'. After winning the Bristol 'Battle of the Bands' in 1982 they were signed to Phonogram and dropped a few months later. They then signed to EMI in '83 and released their first single 'Just My Love' released in early 1984. The second single was 'Make It Real' and was never released as the band were culled from the EMI roster in late '84. For this reissue of their debut single we've added 3 bonus tracks, a demo of 'Just My Love', the unreleased follow single 'Make It Real' and a bedroom demo 'Erotica.'
Each song displays ridiculously catchy melodies and innovative electronic rhythms. The drum tracks, a combination of rhythm machines and hand percussion, were mixed down from the 4-track tape used as backing on stage, with the rich slap bass and Roland SH09 synths weaves fluid lead lines in between the harmony vocals. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The record is housed in an exact replica of the original jacket and includes an 8-page booklet with photos, notes and press clippings from the band's archive. 'We're synthetic but not antiseptic. We are interested in the naivety and spontaneity of music.' - Umo Vogue
Next up on Dusky's renowned 17 Steps label is the return of long term pal Kiwi. Having supported the lads on 9 of the 17 Steps tour dates and having also provided the 15th release in the label catalogue - the fellow Londoner now readies his 'Oooh' EP which comes backed up with a remix from Feel My Bicep affiliate Hammer.
Kiwi's sound is one defined by positive, kinetic feeling - joining the dots between Detroit Techno, Soul and Balearic. With previous releases on Futureboogie, Life and Death and Moscoman's lauded Disco Halal imprint, he's garnered several accolades including reaching number #85 in Mixmag's Top 100 tunes of 2017 and sitting at #1 in the genre chart for a total of 9 weeks with his 'Orca' EP back in 2016.
Now - continuing on his ascent, Kiwi lays out a pair of rapturous, gooey House jams that lands right on time for the festival season. On 'Oooh' - Vocal lines swirl over a largely beatless backing track. A rich, balmy feeling unfolds behind synth chimes and layered delays which work together to form an irresistible summer DJ tool. 'Andromeda' then follows up and blends 80's soundtrack-tinged stabs with crispy drums and thick sub bass before being accompanied by a pulsating synth line that carries the track to a delectable crescendo. Hammer then closes things up with a somewhat hallucinogenic take on 'Oooh' with LFOs, analogue sweeps and blobs of acid bleeding together to cap off an altogether warm and woozy trip.
ALEX is a dark, haunting and brooding synthwave record that sets the night on fire, taking you from darkness all the way to the shining lights of Broadway. With hints of cyberpunk, outrun and other 80's inspired retrowave influences, ALEX has developed a true signature sound that is funky, groovy and totally rocking. X takes you on a futuristic, electronic music trip that's filled with nostalgia and suspense. Artist bio: In the last few years, Ireland's Bart Graft has been releasing healthy amount of great music. His signature sound of pastel coloured and retro inspired synth music is stellar synthwave from the top of the shelve. Along with bigger names in the genre such as Mitch Murder, Waveshaper, The Midnight, and others, he truly is holding up the genre's current producer flame high. Inspired by the works of Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, Talk Talk, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Tear For Fears, The Ward Brothers, Peter Gabriel, Frank Zappa, INXS, and many more... Nostalgic synth stabs accompanied by pulsating guitar licks, energetic drums roll around yet a bunch of track are plain chill. This album is a trip to the rooftops of 80s and 90s culture. From the fast-paced rock track, to ambient vaporwave, the balance is just right as 'Modern Life' cements Bart Graft as a force to be reckoned with.
Set for release on June 23 via Asylum Records, x (multiply) is the hugely anticipated new album by Ed Sheeran.
It follows his critically acclaimed and hugely successful 2011 debut +; an album that was certified 6 times platinum in the UK alone and has achieved worldwide sales of over 4 million copies to date. It also saw Ed asthe recipient of various awards for the record, including 2 Brits, an Ivor Novello and multiple Grammy nominations.
Never an artist to stand still, Ed recorded x at various locations around the globe (all the while drawing on experiences and influences encountered on his over three years of unrelenting touring) with such luminary producers as Rick Rubin (Eminem, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Pharrell Williams (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, N.E.R.D), Benny Blanco (Rhianna, Wiz Khalifa) and Jeff Bhasker (Alicia Keys, Jay-Z) adding new flavours to the classy work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Jake Gosling (who produced +). xhas the musical ingredients to make it one of the most important global releases of this year.
The new set showcases the exponential growth (both vocally and musically) of an incredible artist, who at 23 exhibits the poise of a seasoned veteran. The songs for x came together whilst touring + and, in the same way as the latter was a snapshot of his life and relationship to-date, x charts his loves and life since. Only 'One', the perfect album opener and first song written for the record (in 2011 whilst on tour in Australia) looks back to that time and is the link between the two records. With 'One' under his belt, almost before he noticed he was writing, Ed had ten new songs and counting.
The breath-taking album-closer 'Afire Love' was written about his grandfather who passed away last Christmas. 'Always the hero of the family - such a cool guy - he'd been suffering with Alzheimer's for some time and I actually started writing that song two weeks before he passed away," Ed says. "I was thinking 'What if' and then he did...' Then there is the timeless ballad 'Photograph' written in May 2012 in a hotel room in Kansas whilst on tour with Snow Patrol. McDaid had a piano loop playing on his laptop while Ed was making a Lego X-wing Fighter to give to a charity auction. He just started singing as he put the pieces together and the song grew from there. 'Don't' started life as a riff on his phone and grew into another of x's massive moments. The deluxe version of the album also includes the original song, 'I See Fire', which Ed wrote, produced and recorded for the second Hobbit movie. This was after Academy award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson personally commissioned him. With no promotion besides 3 tweets from his personal twitter account, it reached #2 on the UK iTunes chart.
However it's the Pharrell-produced lead single 'Sing', due out in the UK on June 1, that's pushing the envelope for Ed. #Sing was the number one trend on twitter globally ahead of launch with the track immediately tearing up airwaves nationwide including a 7-week add to Radio 1 and an unprecedented addition straight to the Super Hit list at Capital FM and Kiss Network. The audio upload on YouTube was Ed's biggest ever video launch, clocking 650k views in its first 24 hours. Already i-tunes Top 5 in 15 different countries (number 3 in the US), Top 20 in 36 countries and with all chart positions climbing, 'Sing' is well on the way to being a global smash.
On the back of 'Sing's' launch, x reached No.7 in the UK iTunes chart on pre-order alone with that success mirrored internationally with No.1 positions in the US and Canada, Top 5 in New Zealand, Sweden, Australia and Top 10 in 20 countries.
'I'm really proud of my new album and can't wait for people to hear it.' Ed says. 'It's definitely my best work.'
Next up on Nang it is time for a slice of spot-on male vocal house and disco. Liverpool based Thomas Lang made some fine albums in the 80s and 90s with John Murphy (who went on to carve a highly successful career in movie tracks) and David Hughes. Somewhere in between that and a string of recent albums (Torch Songs and The German Alphabet) he also managed to buy one of the finest recording studios in North West England, Parr Street Studios (the "Abbey Road of the North").
We are pleased here at Nang to see a new avenue turned in Tom's life, his first foray into the dance world. "Scared" was written with late Liverpool songwriter John Uriel quite some time ago. It first emerged as a b-side to Tom's comeback single "August Day" in 2011. Here at Nang we always loved the smooth and sophisticated vocal and melody. When Tom suggested some remixes we were on board.
"Scared" is a peak time vocal house track, here presented with remix options.
The a-side sees fellow Liverpool DJ crew The Imposters taking the track on a dubbed out trip, before flipping over for their hypnotic, swing-house rework which highlight the layered vocals and smooth sax. Camanchi take us for some peak time House action.
At first, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes Our Girl so special, or why the Brighton-formed, London-based trio's music stands out within a busy crowd of fellow guitar-wielding-types. But if an explanation didn't jump out when they first emerged with a debut EP of mighty fuzz-soaked songs in November 2016, it surfaces with 'Stranger Today', a debut album of personal, emotional juggernauts that could have only been made by these three people: Guitarist / vocalist Soph Nathan, bassist Josh Tyler and drummer Lauren Wilson.
Since forming in Nathan and Tyler's Brighton home four years ago - Wilson joining as a late recruit when she was wowed by a demo of their self-titled debut track, and 'Stranger Today''s opener - Our Girl's members have only had pockets of time to work together. A day booked in a local studio here, a soundcheck there, full-time jobs and other projects meant the three rarely had a concentrated, collective patch. This changed in September 2017, when they stayed in Eve Studios in Stockport for a week, recording with Bill Ryder-Jones. Their week in Stockport became a crucial catalyst for what would follow. Ryder-Jones is a guitar virtuoso himself ('He did stuff neither me or Soph had ever seen anyone do before,' Tyler remarks), and he became an unofficial fourth member of the group.
'Stranger Today' is a special debut for several reasons: First, because it's the sound of a band beginning to grasp their own value and place in the world. Secondly, because you can hear the trio's hunger to finally get in the same room and put to tape years' worth of scrapbooks, half-finished ideas, and a slowly-forming feel for how their first album would actually sound. 'What band isn't itching to make their debut But it's quite frightening, knowing you're about to do it,' Wilson remembers.
The real clincher, however, is Our Girl's dynamic, and how it plays out across 'Stranger Today'. Best friends in person, the trio share the same close kinship and chemistry on record. On one side is Nathan's visceral lyricism, which has a habit of detailing and chipping away at precise moments; the first heart-flutter of a new crush; the moment a long-term friendship begins to ebb away. Around her, Tyler and Wilson's rhythm section carefully mirrors each feeling Nathan conveys. When she sings pointedly about love ('I Really Like It'), she's backed by a major-key afterglow. When the subject turns on its head ('Josephine'), out steps a wall of taut, earth-shaking noise. They each 'serve the song,' in Wilson's words, moving in sync but with their own personal slant. Not least on the closer 'Boring', where all restraint is thrown aside and the trio let out one final, violent thrash. They inhabit a space bigger than the first loves, sleepless nights and growing pains that define this record.
Nathan remembers being in Brighton four years ago, shortly after Our Girl formed, and realising, 'I was finally in the band I wanted to be in.' Almost half a decade later, and this eureka moment is sewn up on 'Stranger Today'. It's the sound of three friends totally at ease in their own space, discontent with being anywhere else; a vibrant document of what it's like to be young, invigorated and amongst people who feel the same.
N8noface Was The Vocalist For Underground Synth-punk Legends Crimekillz. He Is The Younger Brother Of Tucson-bred Modern Boogie Rocket Man Zackey Force Funk, Both Now Residing In Long Beach, Ca.in 2017, Hit+run Released N8's Visceral Debut Album Stories Of Those, As Well As Demos And Demons Vol. 1, A Ten-track Collection Of Home Demos Recorded Between 2015-2016. On Dia De Los Muertos 2017, Noface Also Unleashed The First Single From His Forthcoming New Album True Story, The Haunting Double A-side Lathe Cut idgaf / Say Goodbye.'
True Story, The 14-track Lp Due This August, Reads Like A Collection Of Compelling Mini-narratives, Brief Yet Honest Tales Of Personal Struggles, Anti-establishment Rants, Dead End Loves, And Real-life Tragedies. N8's Minimal Wave Sound Is Not About Nostalgic Lo-fi Nor Home-recorder Formulas, But His Own Instinctive Style That Defies Categorization And Comparisons. The Result Is A Distinct Sound Of Rapid-fire Hardcore Punk Moshing With Awkward Pop Music. Standout Tracks On The Dense 18-minute Album Include not Like You', bad Day', men Who Dress Well' And glasgow Smile'.




















